Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

[MacGuffin]

'Transformers' sequel sets 2009 date
Paramount, Dreamworks expect Bay to return
Source: Variety

Paramount and DreamWorks are holding the date of June 26, 2009, for "Transformers 2," with Michael Bay expected to return to direct the sequel.

Despite the tensions between them, DreamWorks and Par have plenty of incentive to move forward with the next installment in the budding franchise. "Transformers," starring Shia LaBeouf and based on the toy robot line, has grossed nearly $700 million worldwide, giving DreamWorks its first live-action franchise.

Still, the high-profile project isn't guaranteed total immunity from the ongoing battle of wills between DreamWorks' David Geffen and Steven Spielberg and leadership at Paramount conglom Viacom.

The studios stressed that they are targeting the June 26 date, but that it isn't ironclad.

Even if Spielberg and Geffen exit their deal at Par, as they have threatened to do, the "Transformers" property stays at the Melrose lot, as do all other DreamWorks projects.

"Transformers" was a passion project for Spielberg, with DreamWorks developing the project and taking the creative lead after partnering with Paramount (that was before Par bought DreamWorks).

Spielberg, who took an exec producer credit on "Transformers," was closely involved with the film, including bringing Bay aboard to direct and LaBeouf to star. He's expected to be involved in the sequel.

Bay has not yet inked a deal to helm the follow-up but is in the final stages of negotiation. With Bay's involvement, LaBeouf is expected to return as well.

LaBeouf stars alongside Harrison Ford in Spielberg's upcoming "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which opens May 22.

DreamWorks and Par are hoping to at least begin production on the "Transformers" sequel before a possible strike even if they have to finish after it.

[MacGuffin]

[Kal]

A better version...

[picolas]

one of the few movie villains i actually want dead.

[cron]

one of the few movie villains i actually want dead.

c'mon...michael bay is evil and all, but do you really want him to die?

[MacGuffin]

Super Bowl ad:

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Teaser Trailer here.

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New Trailer here.

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Megan Fox is all CGI:

[MacGuffin]

Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues
Source: AP

LOS ANGELES - Harmless comic characters or racist robots?

The buzz over the summer blockbuster "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" only grew Wednesday as some said two jive-talking Chevy characters were racial caricatures.

Skids and Mudflap, twin robots disguised as compact hatchbacks, constantly brawl and bicker in rap-inspired street slang. They're forced to acknowledge that they can't read. One has a gold tooth.

As good guys, they fight alongside the Autobots and are intended to provide comic relief. But their traits raise the specter of stereotypes most notably seen when Jar Jar Binks, the clumsy, broken-English speaking alien from "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace," was criticized as a caricature.

One fan called the Transformers twins "Jar Jar Bots" in a blog post online.

Todd Herrold, who watched the movie in New York City, called the characters "outrageous."

"It's one thing when robot cars are racial stereotypes," he said, "but the movie also had a bucktoothed black guy who is briefly in one scene who's also a stereotype."

"They're like the fools," said 18-year-old Nicholas Govede, also of New York City. "The comic relief in a degrading way."

Not all fans were offended. Twin brothers Jason and William Garcia, 18, who saw the movie in Miami, said they related to the characters — not their illiteracy, but their bickering.

"They were hilarious," Jason said. "Every movie has their standout character, and I think they were the ones for this movie."

In Atlanta, Rico Lawson said people were reading too much into the characters. "It was actually funny," said Lawson, 25, who saw the movie with his girlfriend in Atlanta.

That was the aim, director Michael Bay said in an interview.

"It's done in fun," he said. "I don't know if it's stereotypes — they are robots, by the way. These are the voice actors. This is kind of the direction they were taking the characters and we went with it."

Bay said the twins' parts "were kind of written but not really written, so the voice actors is when we started to really kind of come up with their characters."

Actor Reno Wilson, who is black, voices Mudflap. Tom Kenny, the white actor behind SpongeBob SquarePants, voices Skids.

Wilson said Wednesday that he never imagined viewers might consider the twins to be racial caricatures. When he took the role, he was told that the alien robots learned about human culture through the Web and that the twins were "wannabe gangster types."

"It's an alien who uploaded information from the Internet and put together the conglomeration and formed this cadence, way of speaking and body language that was accumulated over X amount of years of information and that's what came out," the 40-year-old actor said. "If he had uploaded country music, he would have come out like that."

It's not fair to assume the characters are black, he said.

"It could easily be a Transformer that uploaded Kevin Federline data," Wilson said. "They were just like posers to me."

Kenny did not respond to an interview request Wednesday.

"I purely did it for kids," the director said. "Young kids love these robots, because it makes it more accessible to them."

Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman said they followed Bay's lead in creating the twins. Still, the characters aren't integral to the story, and when the action gets serious, they disappear entirely, notes Tasha Robinson, associate entertainment editor at The Onion.

"They don't really have any positive effect on the film," she said. "They only exist to talk in bad ebonics, beat each other up and talk about how stupid each other is."

Hollywood has a track record of using negative stereotypes of black characters for comic relief, said Todd Boyd, a professor of popular culture at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, who has not seen the "Transformers" sequel.

"There's a history of people getting laughs at the expense of African-Americans and African-American culture," Boyd said. "These images are not completely divorced from history even though it's a new movie and even though they're robots and not humans."

American cinema also has a tendency to deal with race indirectly, said Allyson Nadia Field, an assistant professor of cinema and media studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"There's a persistent dehumanization of African-Americans throughout Hollywood that displaces issues of race onto non-human entities," said Field, who also hasn't seen the film. "It's not about skin color or robot color. It's about how their actions and language are coded racially."

If these characters weren't animated and instead played by real black actors, "then you might have to admit that it's racist," Robinson said. "But stick it into a robot's mouth, and it's just a robot, it's OK."

But if they're alien robots, she continued, "why do they talk like bad black stereotypes?"

Bay brushes off any whiff of controversy.

"Listen, you're going to have your naysayers on anything," he said. "It's like is everything going to be melba toast? It takes all forms and shapes and sizes."

[Stefen]

Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues
Source: AP

Skids and Mudflap, twin robots disguised as compact hatchbacks, constantly brawl and bicker in rap-inspired street slang. They're forced to acknowledge that they can't read. One has a gold tooth.

haha

[polkablues]

This movie is getting some of the worst reviews I've seen in a while.  And not even entertaining-bad.  Boring-bad.  Can't even be enjoyed on the level at which it was intended bad.

[B.C. Long]

Michael Bay is the Ed Wood of the MTV generation.

[Pas]

you know the line of defense of a silly entertaining movie can be something like :  ''well what did you expect, Citizen Kane ?'' or whatever great classic.

Well I just read this one :

''For those awful negative reviews, what you expect? Iron Man, The Dark Knight or Spider-Man 2? Transformers is never known for acting or it's plot, just robots beating the crap out of each other''

I love how this guy considers Iron Man, Dark Knight and Spider-Man 2 to be the epitome of great acting and scenario.



anyway this movie is making redonculus amounts of money. 

[SiliasRuby]

Michael Bay is the Ed Wood of the MTV generation.

Couldn't have said it better. Although Bay has made more money than ed wood would ever get to achieve.

By the way, saw it and besides megan fox, I HATED this film and I wasn't expecting 'TDK' of course.